Tom did not have a degree in mycology. Any training he had in field mycology was from reading guidebooks and attending organized mushroom forages. His passion was collecting and identifying edible mushrooms, and after 40 years of foraging he felt he was very experienced in identifying edible mushrooms. On a recent spring day, he was particularly excited to discover what he thought was the mushroom Amanita velosa, also known as the Springtime Amanita, growing in a field near his house. This particular mushroom is described as delicious.
He enthusiastically collected about half dozen of the mushrooms and told his wife to get ready for an incredible meal. Tom did check with two other local foragers about his find who told him they had never encountered that species of Amanita in the area and knew little about it. There is where Tom made his first big mistake. He was so sure of his ability to identify the mushroom that he didn’t put their ambiguity to good use.
For lunch that day Tom and his wife enjoyed a delightful meal of cottage cheese, a salad his wife had prepared, and the mushrooms Tom had collected, chopped up, sautéed in a mound of butter, and sprinkled with a bit of garlic. In fact, his wife gobbled up her serving of mushrooms before touching the other two courses. After lunch, his wife went out to water her nursery and Tom went out to do some work in his shop.
